


Tattooed Heart

by elephantpancakes



Series: The Sabi Series [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-27
Updated: 2015-11-27
Packaged: 2018-05-03 13:34:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5292983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elephantpancakes/pseuds/elephantpancakes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sabi gets a tattoo</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tattooed Heart

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first part to a kid!fic series that I just kinda thought of. Nothing is in order, it's basically just a bunch of drabbles that I need to get out of my head. I hope you enjoy!

"Baba, why do you n’ daddy have pic’ures on your arms?"

"Um, well beti..." Zayn trails off and stares at his his daughter with wide eyes as she stares right back. She's smart for her age. Way too smart for a 4-year-old if you ask him, and more observant than he ever was at her age. He has no idea how to explain to her what tattoos even are or what they mean so he says, "we thought they looked cool."

“Cool,” she repeats as she wrinkles her nose at him – just like Liam he thinks – as if she doesn't believe that that's the whole story and crawls into his lap to trace over his arm with her chubby little fingers. He runs his own larger ones through her thick hair – exactly like his – following it down her tiny back.

“Would you like one, Sab?”

She looks up at him suddenly. "I can get one too, baba?" Her eyes are so wide and large, so hopeful – so, so much like Liam – it makes his heart ache with love.

"Of course, beti. Let me call daddy, okay?" The sparkle in her eye makes Zayn want to cry tears of utter joy. There is absolutely nothing he loves more than his daughter and he wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

 "Babe, why did-"

"Daddy!"

"Hi, Bean!" Zayn watches from the kitchen, slumped against the counter, as Liam picks up his –  no, _their_ daughter and peppers quick kisses to her face, both of them giggling uncontrollably. Watching the two most important people in his life together makes his chest fill with so many emotions he can’t decipher them all. Liam finally notices him in the midst of Sabina’s breathless giggles and gives him a soft smile making his way over to Zayn. Liam is leaning in to kiss him when, "Daddy! Baba is gon' give me a 'too!"

Zayn hides his snicker in the crook of his elbow, trying to disguise it as a cough. Liam glances confusedly between the two.

"A what?"

"A 'too!" She repeats, smiling at him proudly.

Zayn leans in to whisper softly in her ear, " _Tat_ too, Sabi." Her tiny lips form a small ‘o’ shape and she nods furiously. "Right. That."

"'S why I needed the non-toxic marker, babe." Liam makes the same face Sabina made just moments before and Zayn's heart swells so much he thinks it might burst out of his chest.

"After dinner though, right?" Sabina pouts, hunches her shoulders and heavily crosses her arms. Zayn just giggles at her, smacking a kiss to her cheek before replying, "Yes, love. After dinner."

* * *

 They're sitting on the couch, Sabina in Liam's lap as he brushes her hair and Zayn sitting next to them, marker in hand.

"Sabi, baby. Gotta stay still so I can draw your tattoo, okay."

Liam switches on the TV, Sabina immediately stilling at the sight of the Transformers cartoon. Zayn smiles at her as she settles, her restlessness slowly subsiding. She’s not usually a hyper ball of energy, taking after Zayn and his subdued nature. He thinks about how much of himself he sees in her as he draws, constantly asking him to read to her, asking him what certain words mean when he gets philosophical and forgets that he is talking to his 4-year-old daughter. She is inquisitive, always asking questions and listening intently as if she actually understands the explanation she is being given. She’s calm, too. Zayn often finds her in the corner coloring when he picks her up from daycare on the days he and Liam are both in the studio.

He sees a fair mix of Liam in her too, his soft complexion showing in her gentle touches and kind smiles. Sometimes all he sees is Liam and almost swears she is his biological daughter even though she’s not. The way the corners of her eyes pucker even when she’s not smiling, the way her nose wrinkles when she doesn’t quite agree with something. Liam has woven himself into her and she is just as much his as she is Zayn’s.

Sabina lets out a small sigh, her breath hitting Zayn’s cheek softly. He glances up to see her watching him with heavy-lidded eyes, head lolled to the side in a sleepy manner as if the feeling of the marker against her skin is slowly calming her into a drowsy state.

He sees her mother in her then. Her deep brown eyes as dark as the purest of coffee, the sharp bow of her mouth, her full eyebrows, and her soft brown skin, much darker than Zayn’s own.

His lips tug down slightly at the thought of her mother. He doesn’t think about her often, doesn’t have a reason to, really. But every now and then his thoughts wander back to that night all those years ago, in that bar, with that wonderful, quick-witted woman with the sharp tongue and sly smile. He thinks, sometimes, that he could have loved her had they gotten to know each other, had Sabina not come along so soon, had he not still been in love with Liam… he thinks he could have.

By the time he's done, Liam has long since finished brushing Sabina’s hair, tying it in a knot on top of her head and she is close to slumber in Liam's lap.

"Sabi, love. I'm done." Her eyes flicker open, wide and curious, and she sits up a little straighter, holding her arm in front of her face, gasping.

They watch as she follows the patterns of roses and lilies intertwining up her forearm before she smiles softly and whispers, "flowers," gently under her breath, too in awe to speak any louder.

"Yeah, babe. Those are flowers." Zayn says, tucking a loose strand behind her ear.

"Like me?"

"Yes love, like you. Sabina means flower, right?" She nods her head quickly before turning around and shoving her arm in Liam's face. "Daddy look!"

"I see, baby girl. It's beautiful, just like you." Liam plants a soft kiss on her forehead as she settles on his chest, staring at her new tattoo.

* * *

"You didn't tell her what tattoos actually are, did you?" Liam asks as he lays Sabina down in the middle of their bed. She'd fallen asleep barely a half hour later and so they called it a night.

"Didn't know how to. I don’t think she would’ve understood anyway." 

Zayn eyes Liam from the edge of the bed as he changes out of his jeans into a pair of skinny trackies that are probably Zayn's. His breath gets caught in his throat when Liam slips off his black t-shirt in favor of a clean white one, the flexing muscles in his back making Zayn’s skin heat. He pulls his eyes away and wills his heartbeat to slow because Sabi is in the room and they can't. He stands up and heads over to their dresser to change. When he turns around Liam is pressing soft kisses to Sabina's cheek, whispering something Zayn can't hear. Liam's phone abruptly starts buzzing and he reaches over to the nightstand to grab it and turn it off.

Liam is just about to turn back over and cuddle up next to Sabina when Zayn stops him.

"Babe, wait." Zayn quickly grabs his own phone, carefully climbing onto the bed as not to jostle Sabina and wake her.

"Don't move," he mumbles. Liam is looking at him like he is crazy but Zayn just snaps the picture and smiles widely at it. Sabina is curled up on the pillow, the duvet rumpled over her tiny frame, with her arms in the perfect position so that her tattoo is on full display. The upper left half of Liam’s body is also in the picture, his arm stretched out next to Sabina’s small body, his abnormally large hands overlapping hers with his silver wedding band gleaming from the direct light, and their matching tattooed arms resting next to one another.

It is picture perfect if you ask Zayn in his humble, unbiased opinion.

"Sleep, now?" Liam questions.

Zayn chuckles quietly. "Yeah, babe. Sleep now."

He climbs under the covers on Sabina's other side as Liam switches off the lights. He strokes his hand up and down his daughter's back softly, placing a delicate kiss to the back of her head.

"Goodnight, little love. Baba loves you so, so much." He whispers so lowly that not even Liam can hear.

* * *

The next morning, Zayn is leaning against the counter, a mug of tea in one hand and his phone in the other. He watches as Liam settles Sabina in her chair at the island, sitting a large, elephant-shaped pancake in front of her (he had Harry help him for weeks trying to make a pancake in the shape of his daughter’s favorite animal).

When Liam finally decides to join Zayn by the counter, Zayn has just opened Instagram in curiosity.

(See, he’d posted the picture earlier that morning with the caption: _Nice tat, Sab._ and hasn’t been on again since. Now, he’s curious to see people’s reactions.)

Zayn watches his screen as the app tries to boot up and fails. He tries again but the app just continues to crash. He opens safari instead, and types in his name and the results leave him in awe when he sees that all of the headlines and articles are about the picture he posted merely two hours ago and how Instagram refuses to open.

He lets out a surprised noise, prompting Liam to peer over his shoulder. When Liam sees, he makes a breathless sound in Zayn’s ear before he mumbles, “Babe. Did you just break Instagram?”


End file.
